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Engineers for products that millions use at once.
TekRecruiter recruits technology and engineering talent for streaming, gaming and sports betting companies: software, platform, data and test automation engineers, plus product and UX. We screen for peak concurrency, low-latency event pipelines and clean rollbacks across devices, so you hire engineers who keep a launch or a live event from failing in public. Beyond skills and experience, we look for HEARTThe HEART standardHHigh agencyEExecutionAAccountabilityRResourcefulnessTTransparencyWhat we look for, beyond skills →.
Media & Gaming clients
What media and gaming companies hire for.
Product and client engineers
Engineers building the apps, players and game-adjacent services people use every day, across web, mobile and TV.
Platform, SRE and streaming
Engineers who keep services up during launches, live events and peak traffic, including real-time data streaming on Kafka.
Data and personalization
Data engineers and data scientists behind recommendations, player analytics, odds and experimentation.
Test automation, product and UX
SDETs who automate release testing, and product managers and UX designers who shape engagement.
Why media and gaming searches go wrong.
In media and gaming, a weak hire shows up on launch night, in front of every user at once. These are the gaps we hear about.
- 01
Built for average load.
Engineers whose systems never saw a launch-day spike, a premiere or a Sunday kickoff.
- 02
Data that lags at the worst moment.
Odds, scores or recommendations that go stale because nobody owned the event pipeline’s latency budget.
- 03
A release that breaks one device.
A fix that works on web and crashes on a smart TV, because testing never covered the device matrix.
- 04
Betting treated as another consumer app.
Engineers new to geolocation checks, state-by-state rules and responsible-gaming controls.
Scale is the job, so we screen for it.
Media and gaming engineering fails in public: a stalled stream, a crashed launch, odds that do not update. We’re technical people, and we walk candidates through a system they ran: how it behaved at peak, what broke and what they changed. Every engineer we present also meets HEART, our standard beyond skills.
- Peak traffic: how their systems handled launches, live events or sudden spikes.
- Real-time data: streaming, event pipelines and latency budgets they owned.
- Release discipline: testing, feature flags and rollbacks across many devices and platforms.
- Regulated gaming: for sports betting roles, experience with geolocation, responsible-gaming and state rules.
| A generalist tech recruiting firm | TekRecruiter |
|---|---|
| Matches on languages and engines | Screens for systems run at peak load |
| Treats sports betting like any consumer app | Asks about geolocation, state rules and responsible gaming |
| Recruits data engineers by tool name | Asks what their pipeline served and how fresh it had to be |
| Treats SDETs as manual testers | Screens SDETs on the release automation they built |
| Can’t staff a launch on short notice | Contract consultants onboard in as little as three days |
The HEART standard
What we look for beyond skills and experience, in every candidate we present.
- High agencyPeople who see what needs to be done and act without waiting to be told.
- ExecutionPeople who turn ideas into results.
- AccountabilityPeople who own the outcome, not just their piece of the work.
- ResourcefulnessPeople who figure things out when the answer isn’t obvious.
- TransparencyPeople who communicate clearly, honestly, and early.
What clients say.
The hiring team needed someone who could build a Java automation framework from scratch, and we had worked the search for six straight months with at least 12 or 13 vendors. TekRecruiter sent one candidate, and he got the job.
We needed to hire a senior IAM engineer with deep SOC 2 knowledge, and the role had been open for more than three months. Within a week of speaking with Ron, his team sent over three very solid profiles, and we finally found the right fit in just two weeks.
Across multiple companies, I’ve hired more than six senior software engineers through TekRecruiter, and every one of them has been an impressive builder.
I got a firsthand look when I needed a software engineer with strong TypeScript skills to join my team. I was happy with the candidates, and I was able to make a hiring decision.
A former colleague referred me to TekRecruiter, and I was very impressed by the caliber of the senior DevOps engineers they presented. I identified two senior DevOps engineers who were exceptional fits for my team.
He said he would share three to four candidates within a week, and that’s exactly what he did. We hired a senior software engineer we’re confident in, and we’ve been thrilled with how well things have worked out.
The few times I’ve hired over the last five years, I’ve always been vendor neutral, and TekRecruiter has been the staffing partner that filled every one of those open engineering roles.
Their ability to quickly supply highly skilled software and DevOps engineers who blend in well with our existing teams continues to amaze me. They are highly technical at the account management level and transparently propose different solutions, whether staff augmentation or nearshore outsourcing.
Who we recruit for in media and gaming.
- Streaming, gaming and sports betting companies scaling engineering.
- Teams facing a launch, a season or a live event that need contractors fast.
- Companies that want nearshore engineers working US hours.
- Creative production roles. We do not recruit artists, animators, writers or on-air talent.
- Game design or level design as standalone roles; we recruit the engineers who build the platform.
- Customer support or moderation teams. We recruit technologists.
Media and gaming hiring questions, answered.
Do you recruit for gaming and streaming companies?
Yes. TekRecruiter recruits software, platform, data and test automation engineers, and product and UX talent, for streaming, gaming and sports betting companies. Netflix, Electronic Arts and FanDuel are among our clients.
Do you recruit game artists or designers?
No. We recruit technologists: the engineers, data people, test automation engineers, product managers and UX designers who build and run the platform. We do not place artists, animators, writers or standalone game designers.
What does a streaming platform engineer earn in 2026?
In TekRecruiter’s 2026 placements, SRE and platform engineers working in Java and Kafka averaged a $180,000 base, remote and in New York and Boston. See DevOps, SRE and platform recruiting and the 2026 Tech Salary & Rate Guide.
Can you staff up for a launch or a live season?
Yes. Contract consultants can start in as little as three days and work under your management, and you interview each one first. When the push is over, they can roll off, or convert to your payroll through contract-to-hire. See staff augmentation.
What does a contract SDET or software engineer bill per hour?
Contract software engineers billed $105 an hour in South Florida, $112 in Boston and $115 in New York in TekRecruiter’s 2026 data. Full-time SDETs averaged about $170,000 in the New York area and $155,000–$160,000 in South Florida. See SDET and test automation recruiting.
Can media and gaming companies hire nearshore engineers?
Yes. We place English-speaking engineers in Latin America who work US hours, at about 50% lower cost than US hires. See nearshore engineering.
What is the HEART standard?
HEART is the standard we screen every candidate against, beyond skills: high agency, execution, accountability, resourcefulness and transparency. It describes people who take ownership, turn ideas into results and move the business forward. See the standard.
Last updated .
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